Kempen Family

My name is Willem Kempen. I am of the 6th Generation of my South African origin Kempen Family

I live in Australia and have been researching my direct family ascendancy since my interest was rekindled after the death of my mother in September 1999. I began my research in 2000 whilst on a visit to South Africa. I travelled to my hometown of Victoria West, in South Africa, where I visited the cemetery as well as farms in the district to record the graves of ancestors and I also visited the very well appointed Victoria West Museum where I gathered more valuable information.

Starting from scratch in this field is very daunting, but with the help of the Internet I was soon to meet up in cyberspace with a family member, Belinda Horton, now living in the UK. She forwarded her and her former husband, Francois Greeff ‘s research of the KEMPEN family to me, and I in turn have combined my family knowledge with hers. Her contribution comprises about 50% of this research and covers the family within South Africa from 1798. I cannot verify her research, so take this with a grain of salt. As I am doing my research in South Africa and Europe from within Australia, I rely on the Internet to provide me with clues. A greater amount of my research is first hand knowledge of the families with whom I have had contact over the years. I am doing my best to substantiate my research but not to the degree of professional genealogists. This is, after all, only a hobby!!

My research commences in Germany. I have accessed my German research data from the files of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) who have put all of this information on the Internet and on Microfilm. Owing to poor spelling standards and literacy skills as well as a confusion of languages, especially early Germanic and Roman Latin, there are various ways proffered for writing surnames.

The time line starts in the town of Ascheberg. It is twelve years after the end of the 30-year war. Many records have been destroyed.

Religious Wars

A tendency of the monarchs to line up on one side or another on the issue of the Protestant Reformation–for political more than religious reasons reached its height in the 1600s. Indeed, the wars of religion between Protestants and Catholics, and among the various European kings and kingdoms reached horrible proportions during the “30 Year’s War” of 1618-1648. These wars caught all of Europe in massive devastation.

In Germany, for instance, huge portions of the population were wiped out by war, disease, and depredations of the wandering mercenary soldiers. People were put to the rack and stake–tortured and killed for their faith.

But eventually Catholic Habsburg Spain was running out of plunder from America and could not easily maintain its armies. And Catholic France was more interested in containing Catholic Spain than in fighting European Protestantism (except in France itself). Also Protestant England and the Protestant Netherlands were becoming quite successfully a major nuisance to both.

Finally, it was becoming clear that religion was losing its primacy as the force behind European political, cultural and intellectual affairs. Indeed, the people were becoming very, very tired of the whole religious question.

Thus in 1648 a truce was declared. It was reluctantly agreed that England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and large parts of Switzerland and Germany would stand as “Protestant” lands. The rest remained Roman Catholic.

Western Christianity the principal groups that regard themselves as “Catholic” without full communion with the Pope are the Ancient Catholic Church, the Old Catholic Church, the Liberal Catholic Church, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, similar groups among Filipinos and Poles, and some elements of Anglicanism (“High Church Anglicans” or “Anglo-Catholics”). These groups hold spiritual beliefs and practice religious rituals similar to those of Roman Catholics of the Latin Rite from which they emerged, but reject the Pope’s claimed status and authority. Some Traditional Catholic groups are in a similar position. The Liberal Catholic Church, founded when Charles W. Leadbeater, formerly a clergyman in the Church of England, and later one of the heads of the Theosophical Society, was ordained as a bishop in the Old Catholic Church, additionally incorporates significant elements of theosophy into its doctrinal faith.

The Anglican Communion is in practice divided into two wings, “High Church Anglicans” also called the Anglo-Catholics and “Low Church Anglicans” also known as the Evangelical wing. Though all elements within the Anglican Communion recite the same creeds, Low Church Anglicans regard the word Catholic in the universal sense, while High Church Anglicans treat it as a name of Christ’s church which they consider to embrace themselves together with the Roman Catholic and several Orthodox Churches.

Anglo-Catholicism maintains similarities to the Latin Rite of Roman Catholicism and related spirituality, including a belief in seven sacraments, Transubstantiation as opposed to Consubstantiation, devotion to the Virgin Mary and saints, the description of their ordained clergy as “priests” — addressed as “Father” — the wearing of vestments in church liturgy, sometimes even the description of their Eucharistic celebrations as “Mass”. The development of the Anglo-Catholic wing of Anglicanism occurred largely in the nineteenth century and is strongly associated with the Oxford Movement. Two of its leading lights, John Henry Newman and Henry Edward Manning, both ordained Anglican clergymen, ended up joining the Roman Catholic Church, becoming cardinals.

The several churches of Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy each consider themselves to be the universal and true Catholic Church, and typically regard the other of these families and the Western Catholics as heretical and as having left the One Holy Catholic, and Apostolic Church. The patriarchs of these Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches are autocephalous hierarchs, which roughly means that each of them is independent of the direct oversight of another bishop (although still subject, according to their distinct traditions, either to the synod of bishops of each one’s jurisdiction, or only to a common decision of the patriarchs of their own communion). They are willing to concede a primacy of honor to the Bishop of Rome, but not to accept monarchical claims

Popular belief is that the name KEMPEN originated as a derivative of CAMPUS. (Latin for field).

The city of KEMPEN in the province of Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany, was established around the year 1186 but only became a recognised city by the latter part of the 13th Century.

The most famous person born in the town of KEMPEN was THOMAS `a KEMPIS, 1380 to 1471, a Priest and writer, who has been attributed to being the author of the book, IMITATION OF CHRIST.

There are four more towns in Germany with the name of KEMPEN.

There is also the locality of DE KEMPEN in the northern part of BELGIUM.

The surname KEMPEN is prominant in Germany, The Netherlands, France and Belgium.

There is also a notion that the name is associated by derivative to the warrior like tribe, the CIMBRI, who, in the year 128BC, defeated the Roman Army. The CIMBRI started moving south from the Jutland Peninsula (Denmark) around 138BC to central Europe looking for better land. They and their allies, the Teutons, clashed with the Celts and later the Roman Army. They won another two battles against the Roman Army before being crushed at the battle of Vercellae in 116BC. The remnants of the CIMBRI then settled in what is now South Western Germany and also Northern Italy. Further research reveals that the CIMBRI may in it’s turn be a derivative of KHUMRI or The House of OMRI which is part of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel dating back to 1500BC. Scholars of antiquity have discussed this matter at length and there are some very strong opinions for and against.

By the mid 1600’s religious and political upheaval in Europe saw the beginning of emigration to newly ” discovered or colonised ” countries. There are records of the surname KEMPEN at the CAPE OF GOOD HOPE as early as 1660. Today the KEMPEN surname is to be found in SOUTH AFRICA, USA, CANADA, AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND and continuing on in EUROPE.

THE CAMPERT/KAMPERT/ KAMPERS/KEMPER/ FAMILY in Germany

CAMPERT to KEMPER. The reason behind this name change is unknown. It would seem that it was mainly down to the interpretation by the scribe who was in charge of the record keeping on that day. Literacy skills of the Middle Ages are questionable as the changes were occurring constantly due to political upheaval. Many scribes still clung to the Latin version of transcribing recorded text and it seemed to be up to their interpretation of what was written.It is also a known fact that the members of the LDS who researched these documents put their own interpretations in discemination the recorded history.

The CAMPERT/KAMPERT name originates in The Netherlands and is first recorded in history in 1308 when Gizebrecht Campaertof Amersvoort is fined for being an accessory to murder. Not a very auspicious beginning !!

Kamp in the Dutch language means a piece of land, a place to live, being of that place or a geographical feature. Kampert is the occupation of being a warrior or fighter, protecting that land.

The Campert/Kampert /Kampers /Kemper surname comes from the Middle Ages region of Westphalia which covered from Gelderland in The Netherlands to Nordrhein-Westfalen in Prussia.

At the SANKT LAMBERTUS KATOLISCE KIRCH in ASCHEBERG, Westfalen, Preussen the following ceremonies took place.

From here the ceremonies take place at the KATOLISCHE KIRCH in the town of NORF, Rheinland,Preussen.

NORF is a mining town where Aluminium is mined and smelted. It lies about 5km south east of the satellite city of NEUSS, which lies 10km west from the industrial city of DüSSELDORF CHRISTOPHORUS (CAMPERT) KEMPER married CATHARINAM SCHWARTZ on 25 September 1710. He was only 14 years and 9 months of age !!! Here the first name change occurs.

Marriage document

Their children were: Elizabeth christened 11 April 1712 in Norf Gerardus christened 23 January 1715 in Norf Henricus christened 29 November 1716 in Norf Joannes Henric christened 16 March 1719 in Norf Godefridus christened 20 June 1723 in Norf Miriam christened 18 April 1728 in Norf

Well, I cannot imagine what the life of Wilhelmus, my ancestor, must have been like. I have found him signing up as a soldier on the Dutch East India ship, Hoornweg, in January of 1790, when he was 25 years of age. His name on the Ships Log is registered as Willem Kemper.

Ships Log

The ship departs from Texel in The Netherlands on a journey to The Cape of Good Hope. Life after that is a bit sketchy. He works for the Dutch East India Company for a while as soldier and is released from the service in 1793. Other researchers say that they find him going back to Europe where he studies to become a Teacher. This could be possible as in 1798 we find him working as a Teacher at the JH Hattingh School in Graaff Reinet, Cape Colony. His name is now Willem Kempen.

Then there is another blank period until he turns up on the Opgaafrollen (annual taxation returns) of 1810 being a travelling family with a wagon and 100 sheep. They have one child. He has married Anna Catharina Nel in 1809. Anna is a direct decendant of the South African Nel Family.

Anna Catharina Nel’s ascendancy:

An internet search reveals that the NEL surname originated from the Viking name NJAL. A clan of Vikings settled in Ireland c. 500 B.C. and became known as the UI NEILL/O’ NEILL clan. Apparantly the O’ NEILLS of ULSTER are the oldest traceable family left in Europe. NIALL is an Irish word/NJALL being Norwegian, both which mean CHAMPION. The O’ NEILLS settled in the Tara area, now County Meath, Ireland. A branch of the O’ NEILLS moved to LYONS FRANCE c.1300 A.D. where the name was modified to NEIL/NEEL.

Another source states that the name NEEL can be traced back to Rouen France where Rollo The Viking settled in 911AD. Rollo (later named Robert) was the progenitor of various Kings of England and especially William the Conqueror and his descendants.

When the French Huguenots fled to The Netherlands, the FRENCH pronunciation of NE-EL led to the Dutch modifying the surname to NEL.

Anna Catharina was born 11 April 1790 at Boesmansrivier, district Swellendam

GUILLAUME NEéL was born in Rouen, France in 1662 and was baptised the following year.

As a young adult, he fled from religious persecution in France and went to Amsterdam, as the Dutch government offered Huguenot refugees safe passage to the Cape of Good Hope.

He married Jeanne De La Bat in Amsterdam on 3 May 1685.

On 19 February 1688, he, his wife and two young children left for the Cape of Good Hope on board the ship De Schelde. They arrived in Table Bay on 5 June 1688 together with the first fleet of Huguenot Refugees.

On 9 November 1690, Guillaume, now known as Willem NEL, purchased the farm Blaauwklippen in the area of Moddergat in the District of Stellenbosch from artisan, Gerrit Jansz Visser.

He sold that farm in 1711 to his son in law and then purchased the farm Bootmans Drift in Drakenstein.

PIETER BEKKER: Great Great Grandfather to my ancestor Anna Catharina Nel (Sources: Research notes by J.L.Buys, Turton Genealogy and other internet pages)

Pieter Becker (Bekker) was born in Königsberg in 1673 but no record has actually been discovered to verify this. He was illiterate. He was employed as a soldier by the Dutch East India Company and set foot at the Cape on 26 April 1695 after a voyage from Texel, Netherlands aboard the ship Voetboog. According to the Ships Log he is listed as Pieter Becker van Deventer.

He became indentured as a servant to Ernst Frederick Walter of the farm Lubeck in the district of Simondium. He became a Free Citizen on 18th May 1697. He is referred to as a farmer after that but there are no records to show that he actually owned or hired any land. In the Census of 1697 he is listed as 1 man, 1 Side-arm, 1 Sabre and 1 Carbine. He lived in an area with a number of notable farmers of that period.

Pieter Becker was by all accounts a large man. He was hard-working but also had a very mean streak in him and had a violent temper. His love for wine exacerbated his meanness and he found himself in trouble with authorities on numerous occasions.

It is reasonable to deduce that Pieter Becker had some sort of liaison with Jannetjie de Clerq(de Klerk), wife of the farmer André Gauché(Gouws). Jannnetjie had married the widower Guaché in Cape Town at the age of 15 in August of 1691.

1698 was an eventful year in the Drakenstein. André Gauché was murdered on 26 February. His youngest son, Andries, was born in the same month. His widow Jannetjie de Clerq married Pieter Becker some time during 1698. Their first born Gideon is born late in the year.

Jannetjie had 4 children with her when she took up with Pieter Becker. Estienne (Steven) was the son of André from a previous marriage. Then came her own, Pieter * 1693, Sara * 1695, Andries * 1698.

It would seem that Pieter Becker now becomes the landholder of André Gauché’s farm. Life settles down but Becker is involved in land management and farming disputes with neighbours. He also has a tendency to be very harsh with his servants or slaves and gains a reputation in the area for this trait of his.

During October of 1701 at a small festival near Stellenbosch, Becker, possibly in an intoxicated state started an argument with Janz Stevens Bothma, a local dignatory, and much swearing and insults followed. A local peacekeeper became involved and Becker threatened to cut his head off with his sabre. Such was the commotion that Becker was brought before the Council of Justice of the Cape and as they all took a dim view of his antics he was found guilty of assault, public violence, sedition, mutiny, malevolent insubordination and was sentenced to three lashes across his bare back and then sent to prison on the island of Mauritius for a period of 10 years. He was to be held in captivity at Robben Island before being transported to Mauritius.

Pieter Becker, however, escaped from custody and went on the run for 10 years and lived outside the area of the Cape. He was around though, as his farm flourished and his wife gave birth to five more of his children in his ‘absence’ during that period.

Around 1710 Becker and his wife Jannetjie and their servant Matthys Craal became involved in another act of violence, this time for the torture of their slave woman Maria van Ceylon. The reason for the torture is that the slave woman had allegedly not cleaned a cooking pan properly. This resulted in three days of systematic torture, just after the Easter weekend. From the court proceedings a deeper insight into the mindset of Pieter Becker and his wife Jannetjie can be gained. The evidence shows that on day one of the torture, Maria van Ceylon was tied to a ladder and beaten repeatedly with a whip. That evening Becker, his wife and their servant, played cards and drank wine together. After much drinking, Becker announced that he intended to still have his pleasure with the slave when he took his dagger out and hit the slave woman with it, every time he drank new wine. After this brutality, the slave woman’s wounds, were washed, with a mixture of urine and salt, and so was her vagina smeared with this potion and she was forced to make a fire in the hearth. At this point Becker took out a wagon chain and tied this around her throat, wrapping it tightly around her body and leaving the free end in the fire recently made by the unfortunate slave woman. The heat from this was so intense that the court records show that it seared pieces of her flesh off her body. Maria (the slave woman) picked up this piece of roasted flesh, whereupon Pieter Bekker said to her, “What do you want to do with that? Go on, eat it”. Maria was then forced to eat her own roasted flesh, and after she had chewed this for long enough, Johanna de Klerk ordered her to spit the remains into the fire. At this point instructions were given by Pieter to an unnamed “Hottentot” in attendance (probably the Khoikhoi man, Jochem), to take a pair of pliers and remove the flesh that was now hanging from the unfortunate victim’s body. The second day of the torture involved a two-hour session in which turns were taken by Pieter, Jannetjie, Jochem and the servant, Matthijs Craal to do what they wanted. The third day of the marathon torture session involved a short quarter-hour activity. A neighbouring farmer gave evidence that on the third day he saw Maria with, “bent knees and smelling so bad that he believed she would soon be leaving this world”. This act of barbarism sent shock-waves among the Free Citizens of the Cape when it became public knowledge, so that they immediately brought the incident to the attention of the Magistrate. This resulted in a charge being laid by the Council of Justice, who, ultimately sentenced Pieter Becker, on 25 September 1710 to four years of hard labour in chains on Robben Island, to be followed by a final banning order from the Cape settlement in order to remove him from that society for good. He therefor escaped body branding or the death penalty.

Half of his possessions were sold at public auction. His estate at that period of time was worth 718 Sheep, 44 Oxen, 20 Cows, 16 Calves, 2 Slaves, furniture and farming equipment.

Pieter Becker served his time and was transported back to Europe in 1714.

Nothing is recorded of Pieter Becker for three years in Europe. However in 1717 he has somehow attained a job as a sailor with the Dutch East India Company again. He arrives aboard the Ship Loosdrecht, and steps ashore at Cape Town on 18 July 1717. He is soon taken into custody again.

This time he is sent back to Robben Island in chains, to work for the rest of his life without pay.

Pieter Becker’s name appears in the Census Count from 1717 until 1742. It is widely researched and accepted that he died on 26 August 1745 aged 72. It is possible that he was let out of prison for the remaining years of his life to live with his wife on their farm with their son-in-law, Jacobus Wilhelmus de Wet en their daughter Helena Becker and their family

Willem is 44 and Anna is 19 years of age when they are married in 1809. A male child, Stephanus Johannes, was born in 1808. I have not established, if the child was fathered by Willem. There is a period of ten years, where no children are born to Willem and Anna. They are now farming at Kafferskraal in the Nieuweveldt Mountains near the small town of Beaufort West. Children arrive as follows: Willem Hendrik Marthinus Abraham 1818, Anna Margaretha Helena 1821, Gerhardus Petrus 1823, Petronella Johanna Maria 1829 and Cecelia Margaretha Isabella 1832.

Copy of Willem’s Death Notice

Willem Hendrik Marthinus Abraham Kempen is my Kempen ancestor. He marries twice. First marriage is to Anna Margrita Stoffelina Wilders in 1838. They have ten children. They are farmers and farm at Yzervarkspoort in the Loxton District. Anna dies in 1875. Willem then remarries in 1876 to Magdalena Johanna Theron. They have four children.

My Great Grandfather, Johannes Bernardus Kempen, is the third child from the marriage of Willem and Anna. He too is a sheep farmer and farms at Beyersfontein in the Victoria West District for part of his life. He marries Anna Cecelia Francina Du Toit in 1876

My Grandfather, Willem Hendrik Marthinus Abraham Kempen was born in Victoria West in 1877. He is the first born. As there were no less than 5 cousins with the same name and born around the same era, Oupa Willie changed his name by Deed poll to Willem Hendrik Kempen when he commenced practise as an Attorney in Victoria West. He studied Law at the Universities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town. He commenced Legal Practise in Victoria West in the early part of the 1900’s in partnership with other attorneys. Together with his second cousin, Gerhardus Petrus Kempen, the firm Kempen and Kempen came into being in 1921.

Oupa Willie married Ouma Kosie, (Jacoba Magdalena Claassens ) and they had three children. He was a robust character by all reports and well liked by all who crossed his path. He was elected Mayor of Victoria West for many years and oversaw the building of the flood mitigation dam in the gorge behind the tow. He created an insurance company called Union and National which went from strength to strength but some years after it was listed on the Stock Exchange it was eventually gobbled up by large multi-nationals. Oupa Willie died at the very young age of 56 after getting pneumonia, ironically after attending a funeral on a very cold day. His death was 10 year prior to my birth.

My Ouma Kosie was a 7th generation descendant of Claasz Gerritz of Bengale and Sara of Soloor, both Black Slaves at the Cape in the late 1600’s.

My father, Bernie Johannes Kempen, joined Kempen and Kempen Attorneys in 1933 after the death of Oupa Willie. He built the practise up and eventually had two partners and employed 12 staff. Dad passed away in 1974 at the age of 65 years. Kempen and Kempen continued doing business until the year 2000 when it was sold and renamed. My dad lived for Victoria West and the country and was instrumental in establishing the Victoria West Museum, having the Hospital upgraded, ensuring a good water supply for the town and negotiating the coming of continuous power to the town. He served on many Boards throughout the region. He was elected Mayor for 30 years.

My mother, Frieda Auguste Dümmer, was a scholar with a Honours Degree in Applied Mathematics, English and Latin. She became a teacher of those subjects. She was responsible for teaching many of the locals throughout her years. She also saw to the establishment and building of an Old Age Home in Victoria West, which was then named after her.

I am the eldest of three sons. My life has taken me to many places and being a Jack-of-all-Trades I was self-employed for most of my working life. I came to Australia in 1968 as a tourist and became a citizen in 1969. My next brother, Julian Lochner Kempen, passed away at the tender age of 8 years and 8 months due to complications with laryngitis. My youngest brother, Bernie Johannes Kempen, moved to the USA in 1980 and is now a practising attorney in California.

My thanks go to the following institutions and persons for their research contributions:

If you would like to contribute to this family tree please feel free to contact me at willem@kempen.id.au I would also ask for photographs of family members for inclusion within this website to keep the records updated. Any stories your parents or grandparents might have told you about the life and times or family members would also be greatly appreciated for inclusion.

This genealogical data is constantly upgraded as new information is researched.